Sofia Keller (canon character)
Character History 'The family that sticks together.' Sofia was born and raised in a single parent home to Miranda Mantega. She was told at a young age that her father had died and the only father figure in her life was her uncle Paolo. She was close to her mother more than anyone else and two hardly kept secrets from each other. Miranda taught Sofia that in life she had to be self sufficient and that depending on people for financial support was not something to look for. She needed independence, not someone holding her hand. Early on her life she was taught how to cook, clean, and take care of others. When she was only ten years old her aunt Beatrice died in child birth and her uncle Paolo had difficulties taking care of his three children. He was always the bread winner but he knew nothing of cooking or managing a house. From that time on, Paolo and his children Elena, Alejandro, and newly born Rafael lived with Sofia and Miranda. Miranda tried her hardest to take care of her brother’s children, even Elena and Sofia pitched in to cook and take care of baby Rafael. Growing up like that Sofia had a strong sense of family loyalty and that was when her need to take care of others also crept in. As Sofia grew she started to gain more independence, allowed to go out with friends for most of the day so long as she called in to make sure she was okay. Miranda trusted her daughter above all else and Sofia took care of that trust. At around the age of fourteen, Paolo and his children moved out into a home just down the street when Miranda’s small house no longer sufficed for six people. It was also around this year that her powers surfaced. It came as a shock to both mother and daughter when it happened. The wind was blowing unusually hard one evening and the windows flew open knocking papers and objects down. A vase given to Miranda by her mother was about to fall and, knowing how much it meant to her mother; Sofia tried to make her way towards it when the wind grabbed it and pulled it back up onto the table. Stunned Sofia paid it no mind and just went back to where she was sitting. Later on in the week, Sofia was walking in the park with her mother when a woman was robbed and the robber took off in Sofia’s direction. Wanting to stop the robber Sofia unknowingly sent a gust of wind that carried the man up several inches in the air where he was then dropped on his but. The wallet was carried off by the wind at Sofia’s feet. Miranda knew that her daughter had done this and took the wallet, giving it back to the woman and playing dumb as to how he was stopped. When they got home, Miranda announced her suspicions but Sofia thought it was absurd. She knew about mutants but doubted that she was one. At Miranda’s suggestion, Sofia tried experimenting on something where she took a piece of paper and laid it on the table. With no windows opened she tried focusing on her “powers” and was surprised that the paper started to float up on its own. Miranda told Sofia not to mention this to anyone and that it should just be kept between the two. However, several months into practicing her powers, her uncle Paolo walked in on it. Revealing it to her family was as far as Sofia would go. They were her family, no one needed to know what she could do. 'Parents lost and found.' Still as the months dragged on Sofia felt the need to exercise her powers though it was growing increasingly difficult to do so without worrying if someone would catch her. Around the time of her fifteenth birthday Sofia was in the back yard playing her cousin Rafael, who was five at time, and using the wind to make his kite go up. Somehow a new aspect of her powers emerged and Sofia over heard the conversation that would bring devastation to her. Her uncle Paolo had received a call that her mother was killed during a riot, while on her way home from the store with Sofia’s birthday present. He didn’t think she’d heard but when he heard Rafael call for him and saw Sofia crying, he knew that she had. Shortly after the funeral, Paolo told her something Sofia never expected, her father wasn’t dead but alive and living in Denver, Colorado. He never knew of Sofia’s existence and upon hearing the news he was hesitant to believe it. He hadn’t spoken to Miranda in years and she never mentioned being pregnant. After a paternity test was confirmed, Sofia was sent to live with him since Paolo could not care for her and secretly he was unwilling to care for a mutant. Despite her grief Sofia was also happy that she would get to know her father. However the feeling was not mutual. Walter Barrett was a businessman and he had no time for a daughter, much less a mutant daughter. He told Sofia, after picking her up from the airport that he simply had three rules: she would learn English before school started, she would get good grades, and she would never use her powers. If she followed those three rules she would have everything she ever wanted and needed. Sofia followed those rules obediently but there was one thing she wanted most that he was unwilling to give, his love. 'Daddy's girl...rejected.' When Sofia started school she was more than willing to try and make friends. Unfortunately her classmates weren’t interested in her. They thought she was weird, different and often she was the butt of their jokes. Sofia was outcasted from her first day onwards and the only friend she made was in Derek Newton, her father’s manservant. He became the new father figure in Sofia’s life and a very good friend to her. He was there to care for her and support her whenever she needed him. He accepted her powers and even hid the fact that she still practiced them from her father. Around Sofia’s sixteenth birthday, Sofia wanted to try and make an effort to hang out with some friends. But everyone she asked at school said they were busy. When sitting alone at lunch, she saw some of the people she asked glance at her and talk amongst themselves. Curious, Sofia used the wind to carry their voices to her. What she heard was their ridicule and insults about her, saying how she didn’t have any friends and how she had the nerve to ask them to hang out. Deeply hurt, Sofia cut school for the rest of the day and headed home. Surely her father and Derek wouldn’t forget. She was right in that Derek never would, but her father didn’t even bother to remember. Hurt and angry once more, Sofia left. Walking down the streets for hours, Sofia stopped in front of one of her father’s supermarkets. She walked inside and picked an empty aisle, creating a tornado and strong currents that completely destroyed everything inside. The police soon arrived and arrested her. While sitting in jail she was visited by her father who, angered, asked why she had done it. She simply replied that she thought he’d finally pay attention to her. It worked; she got his attention but at a price. Walter said he would not bail her out tonight, he would ask for another paternity test, and he would ship her back to Venezuela on the next available flight. Shortly before leaving, a teacher from Xavier’s, Danielle Moonstar arrived and convinced Walter to leave Sofia in her care and send her to Xavier’s. Unwilling at first since her powers destroyed his store, he eventually gave in and left her in Danielle's charge. 'Homesickness leads to mischief.' Sofia arrived at Xavier’s in May about a week after her birthday and the whole issue with her father. It was difficult at first for her considering she wasn’t sure what to make up of the school, fear that this school would be no different from the one in Denver. Sure enough her fears disappeared when she met her first friend, David Alleyne. David was a year ahead of her and about to go away to college but his kindness made it easy for Sofia to open up to many people and, seeing as she didn’t have to impress her father, felt like she could finally be herself. About a month later she was able to contact her uncle Paolo again and, this time without pretending to be all right all the time, voiced her boredom. A lot of the kids in her grade only wanted to go out and sneak beers in the woods. She found that incredibly boring. Her uncle, sympathizing with her, wasted no time in getting her a fake id so she could sneak into clubs. Suddenly making friends, as well as finding ways to entertain herself, didn’t seem so difficult. She went back to Venezuela over the summer before returning back to Xavier’s and her year passed somewhat like the end of last. She made more friends, got involved in dance, and learned how to channel her powers. One friend in particular, Nia Escobar, became her “partner in crime” during that year. She was the instigator and Sofia, as always, followed a long. There was even one instant where they drove into New York to go clubbing and the police raided the club. Forced to make a speedy getaway they realized all too late that their car got stolen. Nia, the outspoken girl that she was, got a ride with some guys that they just met. They spent the entire night out, not returning until later on in the morning and were caught by Scott Summers just walking through the door. By the end of that year, Sofia was still undecided about what she wanted but Nia moved to Georgia to attend school. 'Finally adjusting.' At the start of the next school year, Sofia took college courses at Xavier’s but was still relatively undecided about what she wanted to do with her life. She knew all she wanted to do was dance but she didn’t feel like going to school to learn what she already had the talent to do. Still, eventually she wised up to that idea thinking that she would spend two years at Xavier’s before heading off to NYU. Near the end of the year was when Sofia first met Jake, Julian, and Aiko. One night while out clubbing with Aiko, they both met these men that worked together. The guy Aiko was talking to seemed nice but Sofia’s talking partner was exactly the opposite. He spiked her drink and it wasn’t until much later that she felt the affects and had to be taken to the hospital. Aiko blamed herself but Sofia never blamed her, chalking it up to the guys fault and not hers. Their friendship only grew from there. Sometime later Sofia also met Taryn Lawson while at Target. Consequently their first meeting was shortly before the store was being robbed. Still soon afterwards they met more times afterwards and would soon become the best of friends. Over the summer, Sofia witnessed her best friend, Aiko, get murdered. It was something that hit Sofia hard and she suffered a nervous breakdown. Sometime a few weeks afterwards she started experiencing hallucinations where she actually thought she was talking to her best friend. Sofia feared she was falling more and more insane and when her boyfriend, Julian, started telling her that Aiko was back, Sofia felt that he was playing a trick on her, using her powers to throw candlestick at him and “Aiko”. Soon enough she realized that he was telling the truth and she felt incredible guilt over what she’d done. 'Facing the grown-up world.' As the year went by Sofia caught the attention of Annette Jacobs, a professional choreographer, and was asked to be her assistant. Finally Sofia’s dream was realized and school took a back seat before disappearing entirely from her mind. She also got engaged to Julian and worked alongside Ava to plan the wedding. It seemed like everything was finally coming together and going back to as normal as Xavier’s could be. In June, Sofia and others were transported to Avalon to help fight for Diana and a few children who were kidnapped. The trials were hard and the hardest of them all was when Xander Pier, a friend to all of them, was killed in his efforts to finish and win his trial. None more than Aiko and Ryan, at the time, were hit the hardest, Aiko because of her powers and Ryan because he was his teammate. Despite the tragedy they still had to continue with the fight and when it came to Sofia and Taryn’s trial, facing their fears in their own minds, it proved to be strenuous as Sofia was forced to face her dead mother. As difficult as it was they were eventually able to defeat the fey and win their challenge. They succeeded in saving Diana and the children. When they arrived they held a ceremony for Xander Pier, all the people who had gone to Avalon spoke at his funeral as well as close friends. As if that tragedy wasn’t enough, just a few weeks afterwards Purifiers attacked and Sofia was well as other graduates and faculty members of Xavier’s were forced to fend them off. The casualties were great and several of their friends were kidnapped in the process. In a last ditch effort several aerokinetics created a giant tornado to try and fend off helicopters and other Purifiers. It succeeded but at a price. Ryan Hurlock, a friend of Sofia’s, was impaled and killed by floating debris. Sofia just stood and watched as Ryan admitted his love to Taryn and vice versa, shortly before dying. The summer was spent dealing with the aftermath and rebuilding the Institute. Sofia tried her hardest to be there for Taryn, who seemed to be dealing with it by pretending she wasn’t as affected as she really was. As if to start the year off on a good note, Sofia and Julian’s wedding was planned for late September and it was good for all who could be present to share in the momentous occasion. Sofia and Julian were married and for a while, everyone seemed to be healing. However, not a month afterward, Aiko was kidnap and Sofia as well as others scrambled against time to try and save her. She had been kidnapped by Shinji, a crazed stalker who was once her betrothed. Thinking that she would not lose another friend, Sofia was a wreck those weeks, trying everything she could to find Aiko’s location. When her location was found a rescue team came in and was able to save her from nearly being killed. A fight ensued between Shinji’s yakuza men and the rescue team resulting in Shinji’s escape. The proceeding months were dedicated to helping Aiko through the trauma as best she could. In January, Sofia was taking a taxi home from work when she got into a car accident that completely ruptured her kidney. The doctors told Julian that there was no way she’d survive for long without a replacement kidney. Racing against time, Taryn made a deal with Jett that she would date him if he gave Sofia a kidney. At the time Sofia had no idea about it until the surgery was done and she was let out of the hospital. Confronting Taryn about it, she showed intense disagreement and had given the option she wouldn’t have asked her to do it. Though knowing that what was done was done, Sofia let it go, knowing that there was no way Taryn’s relationship with Jett would last. Powers and Abilities 'Aerokinesis' Sofia can control the air around herself and others. She can amplify small vibrations in the air which allows her to hear things from faraway and she can also generate complete silence. Sofia can generate powerful winds and focus winds that can slash at an opponent giving them minor or major cuts though she is unable to cut anything major like bone. She can also disrupt a person's balance by firing wind into an opponent's eardrum causing them to fall down. Flight With this she is able to fly on air currents, which give her the ability to fly, glide, or even levitate. This power is still being developed since she never had any prior practice in it. When she first started out she was only able to levitate a few inches up in the air which then progressed to six feet as well as some gliding capabilities. She has only ever really been able to fly once and has not been able to repeat it since then. Carrying Objects She can lift things in the air and carry objects much like a telekinetic though she had never tried carrying really heavy things so it is unknown what her maximum is. The most she’s ever carried was a person and the least she ever carried was a vase when she came close to knocking it down. Severe Winds She can create a tornado about the height of a one story house and keep it under control and navigate where ever it goes for up to an hour. She can also generate winds up to 42 knots on the Beaufort scale which is a strong wind that can cause slight structural damage and blow the slate off roofs on land and on the ocean can cause twenty feet waves. That can only last about thirty minutes but can do some damage in those minutes. Pocket Vacuum Sofia can create a small pocket vacuum around a person, cutting them off from air. The way she does this, the only way she could, would be to cut off the air supply from the person she is using it on. The way it would appear to an onlooker would be the victim surrounded by a current of air like a wall, the air that Sofia took away, leaving them to die of suffocation. With no intake of air, the air they have would quickly leave the lungs and any oxygen in the blood would go into the lungs to try to equalize pressure. Once the deoxygenated blood goes to the brain, they would die. But the last part is depending on how long Sofia keeps them in the vacuum. Wind Cacoon A relatively new ability, one she learned from training with Tobias Winters, it serves as a shield against opponents where she creates a giant tornado and envelopes it around herself and others. Any object thrown at her would immediately get bounced off of it and in another direction. She’s used it several times and is still exercising practice in it with the help of Tobias. 'Special Skills' *Professional dancer *Choreography *Learning a Language *Took her 3 weeks to be fluent in English, Fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, and learning French *Low-level Martial arts 'Weaknesses' Emotional Weaknesses Sofia is a very emotional girl and as an affect her emotions can sometimes hinder her thinking, making her spontaneous and unpredictable. In relation to her powers, when she feels a very strong negative emotion like anger it can sometimes release her powers unintentionally. Also when she’s hysterical her powers grow erratic and she can unintentionally hurt herself and others as well as hinder her aim which could hurt innocent people. Severe stress makes it nearly impossible for her to focus enough to actually use her powers so in high stress situations she’d be unable to use them. Power/Magical Weaknesses Aerokinesis isn’t the strongest power and it doesn’t make her immune to any kind of ability. Therefore it can be assumed that any kind of power, fire, ice, telekinetic, would be a weakness for her. Also she isn’t immune to any kind of magic and is susceptible to them just like anyone else. Telepathic/empathic powers are also a huge weakness for her because she is such and emotional person and because she has no shield that could protect her from a telepaths power. Physical Sofia has a basic knowledge of martial arts that she learned during her time at school before graduating. She isn’t the strongest person despite being physically fit and could be at a huge disadvantage if she were to face an opponent stronger than her and had to rely solely on physical strength. Also in cases of extreme fatigue, using her powers can actually hurt her since the physical exertion needed to use her powers would tire her out to the point that sharp pains would shoot all over her body. Personality Sofia is a very kind and charismatic girl, always laughing and willing to make new friends. When she was in school, whoever she sat next to always quickly learned this aspect as she would immediately turn to talk with them and try to get to know them. It is difficult for her not to like someone, often trying to see the good in a person despite their faults, not matter how few or many. Though she is not without enemies it is usually because of continuance hostility or if they harm one of the people she cares about. She is a very loyal friend and wife, devoting her time and affection to those she’s close to. She likes cheering them up and taking care of them which is why she will usually put their needs over hers. She likes to look for solutions for them. She is a very optimistic girl, often taking each new experience as an adventure, like when she first arrived to America or when she first arrived at Xavier’s. Sofia is also a romantic, the idea of true love conquering all and the idea of two people meant to be together was something that always appealed to her and her friend, Aiko, often pokes fun at it or fake pukes because of her anti-romance personality. Sofia is a very nosy girl. She often sticks her nose into other people’s business and asks lots of questions when she is curious. She likes to fix her friend’s problems and often tries to help them even when it doesn’t look like they need it. She also feels the need to get involved in some of their more personal lives, like when she thought Taryn and Ryan were in love but unwilling to tell each other how they feel, Sofia proposed that she and Aiko help push them together. She isn’t nosy all the time and often backs off when it feels like people are getting annoyed with her. She can also be very indecisive at times, often unsure of what she wants and asking people to help her choose between something and then sticking to their final. Answer, she usually always goes back and forth with an issue never really sticking to something until she asks for help. Lastly, Sofia can be very emotional and temperamental, not always the nice cheery girl that everyone thinks. She has a temper that can get explosive when she tries to bottle it up, like when her father’s indifference prompted her to destroy his store. She is a very sensitive and emotion filled girl who can go from several extremes, sadness, happiness, and anger. In some ways she may seem a little fragile, especially when upset. Relationships 'Romance' Hernando Rodriguez Hernando wasn’t technically Sofia’s first boyfriend but had she stayed in Venezuela he might have ended up being just that. Friends since the age of thirteen, the two didn’t start developing feelings for each other until the age of fifteen where mild flirting and group hang outs brought them closer than friendship. Their friends tried pushing them together and when it seemed like they were heading towards a full on relationship, Sofia’s mother died and Sofia was sent to the United States to live with her father. Occasionally they speak through e-mails but both have moved, on Hernando dating other girls and Sofia getting married. Jake Pain Jake was Sofia’s first real boyfriend. The two met by the lake at Xavier’s and were both very much attracted to each other before going out. Sofia was always a little shy when it came to male suitors so she held off on accepting his date until a little bit after they met. Once they started going out the pair seemed to fit together easily, both constantly laughing and enjoying each other’s company. However the relationship was no built to last as Sofia started to gain feelings for another guy and feeling it wasn’t fair to continue seeing Jake when she felt guilty for liking someone else, she broke things off. He was heart broken but eventually he was able to move on. Recently, however, they met again and with no memory of her or their past relationship, Sofia figured it was best not to try and jog hit memory and let him move on with his life. Julian Keller Sofia met Julian around the same time she met Jake. Instantly they were attracted to each other but he was dating someone else at the time and Sofia was growing increasingly close to Jake. They stuck to being friends for a while despite the growing attraction and early on in the summer they started dating, both their respective partners departing for different reasons. The two couldn’t be any more different but in a way they complemented each other perfectly. They were dating when Sofia’s friend, Aiko, was murdered at the hands of Gareth Minsky. Sofia fell apart at that and had a nervous breakdown to which Julian cared for her through the whole ordeal. He was even the one who took Aiko to Sofia when she came back from the dead. Over Christmas, Julian proposed to Sofia, something she never saw coming a mile away. She accepted though her family thought that it was all too sudden. But she was convinced that she was in love with him and that was all that mattered. They had a lengthy engagement, in which Sofia’s love for him grew and when they got married in September, she was more than sure that he was the man she wanted to spend her entire life with. 'Friends' Aiko Chigusa-Mitchell Sofia’s friendship with Aiko is one of the deeper, sisterly ones that she has. They met a few years back and it was unexpected that a normal meet and greet would spark such a powerful friendship. Aiko is the one Sofia turns to when she needs the most guidance and when she needs a female ear for her problems. Aiko had a tendency to lead Sofia into trouble though Sofia isn’t entirely naïve in it. In a way, Aiko brings excitement into Sofia’s life, taking her out clubbing and showing her the more extreme sides to fun. Sofia also holds Aiko back before she says something that she’ll end up regretting and no friendship is complete without the occasional squabbles. They are both very different people but it’s part of what makes their friendship great. Taryn Lawson Taryn is probably a middle ground between Aiko and Sofia and she makes up the third member of the ‘Sorority Sisters of Xavier’s’. They met, in one of the most memorable ways, shortly before a robbery at Target. It seemed like since then they’ve been thick as thieves. Like Aiko, there is nothing they wouldn’t do for each other, like when Taryn made a deal with Jett to secure Sofia a kidney and save her life, Sofia never had to ask and given the choice she wouldn’t. Sofia has always thought of Taryn and Aiko as the family she chose. Ivy Rossum Sofia only met Ivy this year when the temporarily roomed together prior to Sofia's marriage to Julian. The two women grew close through the months and eventually came to the point where when Sofia couldn't tell Aiko or Taryn something, mostly because she needed a more objective opinion, she would go to Ivy. Ivy has shown to be a very close and trusted friend for Sofia and she has proven that she is someone Sofia can tell anything to. When two of her best friends are not available to talk with, Sofia seeks out Ivy though she is by no means a last resort. Often times, Sofia seeks out Ivy first when it comes to something that is too close to her other best friends. Ryan Hurlock Sofia met Ryan through Taryn. The two have similar powers and get along well. Sofia understands Ryan’s more traditional values considering she grew up with them as well and would often give him the benefit of the doubt when he says something that others might perceive as sexist. They’ve become good friends immediately since they met and Sofia has noticed the growing affection between him and Taryn, prompting her to want to push her two friends together. However, shortly before she was able to do that, he died while fending off the Purifiers. Ava Madison-Belle Sofia isn’t as close to Ava as she would like but she does consider her a friend. She met her through Julian, who has known each other for years, and Ava was kind enough to be Sofia’s wedding planner and help her plan the wedding. David Alleyne David is an old friend of Sofia’s from when they went to school together at Xavier’s. He was her first friend when she arrived, though he was about to graduate when Sofia came in. They kept in contact while David was off to Harvard and when they came back, it was shortly before Sofia’s wedding. The two have since been able to resume their relationship. Gabriel Bentancourt Gabe is a relatively new friend but a good one nonetheless. They met each other when Gabriel first arrived at Xavier’s and they’ve helped each other through tough times. She was one of the firsts to know about his recent break ups and was ecstatic to hear about his newly formed relationship afterwards and how happy he was. Nia Escobar Nia was one of Sofia’s closest friends from when she was still taking classes. Close as sisters they went through everything together, bringing out the party animal in each other. Constantly laughing and having fun, they still keep in contact at times after Nia moved to Georgia. Alison Blaire Sofia and Ally first met when Sofia took up the job of being one of Ally's back up dancers for a special fourth of July concert. Through practice they grew close as friends, both talking when they had the chance before heading back to work. They both found common ground in music and dance, the latter both showing extreme talent in and the former Ally being very talented in and Sofia increasingly gaining more appreciation than she already had. Sofia was also a very big fan of her Ally's music even prior to the concert and nowadays, Sofia occasionally does back up for some of Ally's concerts. Xander Pier Sofia met Xander a few years back when he would regularly visit Xavier's while attending college. The two grew a friendship but it wasn't until he moved back to Xavier's that their friendship actually grew more. When they were transported to Avalon, she and others watched helplessly as he died trying to complete the first trial. It hit them all hard and when they held the funeral in his honor, Sofia was among the ones speaking, though she was unable to finish her speech. Lucas Constantine A more recent friend, Sofia met Luke one day while she was cooking. They spoke while she was waiting for her arepas to be done and noted with much enthusiasm that he knew fluent Spanish. The entire conversation was held in Spanish, a language Sofia was much more confident in even if she knew English fluently. They learned more about each other and when Sofia told him that she was learning the French language for her major, Luke kindly offered to teach her. Trivia *Sofia cannot comprehend sarcasm. *It takes her a while to understand idioms *Saw Aiko’s ghost for a month. *She has a fondness for cheesecake. *Favorite flowers are tulips. *Eyes turned amber when she uses her powers. Quotes "Maybe Taryn can put the knave in the passenger seat and take him on a scenic drive?" (XI-3, Avalon. 07/11/09) “I wouldn’t want to be like one of those brides who get ugly dresses so that the bridesmaids don’t upstage me.” (XI-4, 08/23/09) “I don’t know…Taryn’s driving can scare even the bravest of us. It may be the perfect way to ensure that he never crosses the ocean. If not that then he’d think twice about getting in car.” (XI-4, Macy’s. 09/02/09) “I know you expect the best but please be gentler. If you keep sending your assistants to all these therapists, eventually you’re going to get a ‘thank you’ note.” (XI-4, Keller Suite. 01/25/10)